WIN! Cleaning vouchers from Helpling

Sometimes you just come to a point where you need an extra helping hand around the house. Maybe the ironing has been piling up for days, or you’ve run out of clean dishes, and the last thing you want to do is scrub your home from top to bottom. Quite rightly, you’d rather […]

What it’s like to be plus-size and pregnant

First of all, let’s determine what I mean by plus-size. While Karl Lagerfeld et al might think anyone over a UK size 12 needs to have their jaw wired shut, my definition is size 16 and upwards, and as a size 18, I’m firmly in this camp. There are a number of […]

A (pregnant) doctor’s guide to the three trimesters

Ever wondered what a pregnant doctor thinks of pregnancy? And how it has changed their perceptions? Here Dr Yasmin Ohlsson shares her insights, from day one to the third trimester… I’ve seen scores of pregnant women over the years with everything from horrendous heartburn to super-sized swelling. Not to mention […]

Book vs real life: 21 weeks pregnant

What a week… I’ve been feeling like a neglectful mother due to a few big work projects and a photoshoot (I have really missed Phoebe, only making it home for her bedtime on a couple of occasions and hardly seeing her on Friday), but hey ho – gotta bring home the facon. That’s […]

Team blue or team pink? The gender reveal!

As much as I’d love to bake a cake and video us cutting it open, revealing blue or pink sponge, or release a box full of coloured balloons a la Giuliana Rancic, or any of the many (MANY) gender reveal ideas I’ve seen on Pinterest, well, I’m a tired pregnant working woman and […]

Introducing the charming, whimsical world of Maluco

Sometimes a store comes along and you just want to get lost in it – whether it’s bricks and mortar or a little slice of online shopping heaven. I first saw Maluco on Instagram (you can start swooning here) and was instantly enchanted, from the doll houses of my childhood dreams to quirky, […]

WIN! ‘now! Minimo’ nursery furniture from Kaiser

Want to add some fun to your little one’s nursery? Children have fabulous ideas about what to do with furniture: jumping over the bed like a tiger, climbing up the wardrobe like a mountaineer or building a cuddly toy hut using a chest. There are no limits to their imagination. And now’s your chance […]

Book vs real life: 20 weeks pregnant

Halfway there! In some ways this is a ‘hurrah’ week, marking the mid-point of the pregnancy, but I think back to finding out I was pregnant, and it feels like years ago. Which means that the birth is a weird, abstract distance away, and it doesn’t feel real at all. Happily, however, […]

10 to try: my maternity and mummy essentials

I first met the lovely Loretta from Blush & Bloom when Phoebe was a few weeks old. I was (really) struggling with breastfeeding and went to Healthbay PolyClinic for a workshop where there were vendors selling everything from lactation cookies to baby carriers, and she was so kind and encouraging. She also had […]

Do other mums feel like a fake too?

I think I have what’s known as Imposter Syndrome. On a rational level, I know I’m a mum (there’s a child sleeping in her cot to prove it, along with all sorts of plastic crap, a body changed forever and a very sickly bank balance), but sometimes – okay, frequently – I just don’t […]

ABOUT ME

I’m Helen Farmer, an editor and journalist, mum to 3-year-old Phoebe and one-year-old Tabitha, wife to Nick and a mummy blogger in Dubai (even though I don’t really identify as one, but I blog, and I’m a mum, so there you go). I’ve been living in the Middle East for the last 10 years, working in books, magazines and broadcasting, shedding some light on the good and bad of life, work and motherhood in the UAE.

ABOUT THE BLOG

The Mothership is for you if you’re a busy, active mum who can’t stand small talk, bad info and twee blogs that make out that mothering is all unicorns and rose petals, instead of admitting that you can love your child so much it terrifies you – while still wanting a night in alone watching The Great British Bake Off with a double G&T or a night out pretending you don’t have children.